The present invention relates to valve seats and, in particular, it concerns a valve seat that is grippingly attached to the valve housing.
Within the art of attaching a valve seat to a valve housing, the generally practiced method is to affix the valve seat to the valve housing using an adhesive, mask the valve seat and then coat the entire unit with a protective coating. Once the coating has dried, the masking is removed from the valve seat.
This process is necessary to assure good adhesion to the valve housing before coating. However, the masking and unmasking process is time consuming and tedious. Further, the unmasking can crack or peel the coating, resulting in premature corroding of the valve housing.
Attaching the valve seat to the valve housing using adhesives generally makes replacement of valve seats impractical, resulting in the replacement of the entire valve even if the valve seat is the only portion requiring replacement.
There is therefore a need for a valve seat that is grippingly attachable to the valve housing after the coating process has been completed.